Clinical psychiatry Coprophagia that occur during dissociative episodes: a case report

Coprophagia is a very rare behavior usually defined as eating dirt or feaces. It can be seen in patients with pervasive developmental disorder, mental retardation, organic brain damage and dementia. In this article, we present a case of coprophagia during dissociative episodes. Our case is a twenty years old, primary school graduate, single, man. Three years ago, he began to experience short-term periods of dissociation triggered by family stressors. After these episodes, he found himself as washing his hands and face that were contaminated with feaces. The frequency of these episodes was variable and associated with the level of anxiety. While he was in military service, his friends observed the coprophagic behaviour and he was referred to our outpatient clinic. Biochemical analysis, electroencephalography and brain imaging was performed. No organic pathology was detected. His IQ score (WAIS) was rated as 89. Other psychometric evaluations revealed dependent personality traits and findings of anxiety and depression. Dissociative Experiences Scale score was 39. Overt coprophagia behavior was observed by a lot of people in our case. Due to immature and dependent personality traits and low IQ, we thought that our case was unable to tolerate distressing events and could experience a serious anxiety and dissociation according to the severity of the stressors.